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I have showcased Studio Toer before for their lifelike Bronco Dog Lamp. This time around I am taking a look at their Spring LED lamp.

A felt shade surrounds an LED light bulb, while the two steel rods below allow you to angle the light however you want to. “By individually moving the two steel rods up and down the light can be directed up and down and from left to right.”

Fusing lights with technology, reintroducing fiber optics, using motion sensors and color changing LEDs, are a few of the modern lighting ideas we can see around today. Here we have highlighted some of the best ideas and styles we have found.

Fiber optics are making their way back into different lighting fixtures. Here is a post on the Laluna – Fiber Optic Pendant Light – we have also highlighted a home theater ceiling that uses fiber optics to create a sky of constellations – L&L Design Guide: DIY Lighting Ideas and Projects. People are experimenting with fiber optics and putting them into concrete slabs for kitchen countertops, bar counters, or even walls.

The Natural Way

Bringing as much natural lighting into a home is a good choice for lighting design – all the while managing privacy and heat. Our post here explains a number of ideas around this: L&L Design Guide: Different Ways to Add Natural Lighting in Homes – From Windows to Solar Tubes. One of the ideas we talked about was the invention of solar tubes. These tubes are fitted into the roof and bring light down into the top floor of the house. They are ideal for hallways and walk in closets. They can also have lights fitted around the tube, so at night they can still be used.

Modern mood lights have been redesigned to include remote controls and LED lights. These days they have touch sensitive controls, and hundreds of thousands of colors to choose from. They can be set to one color, or set to cycle through the colors. So if it is gray and cold outside, splash the walls with green or yellow light. Or use deep blue or purple light to set a romantic setting. Choices in lights include ones like the Yantouch Jellyfish and the Philips Mood Lighting Collection which are stand alone units. Or there are special LED light bulbs that will screw into any normal light socket (in the ceiling or in a lamp) and can be controlled via remote.

Links to other posts on ideas for modern lighting here on Lights and Lights:

Paper lanterns are great for DIY lighting projects because they are so lightweight and inexpensive. Here is a quick round up of our top posts on DIY paper lanterns (with an added bonus at the end). First up is the fluffy lantern: a huge 38” paper lantern that had 1200 coffee filters hot glued on it – coffee filter lantern.

Here are some of the best upcycled lamps we’ve seen. These ideas and projects are simple and inexpensive to do. Leave us a comment and link if you try any of them out.

The Sharpie Doodle Lamp

You can easily upgrade a lamp by using a sharpie. Better Homes and Gardens upcycled a teal colored lamp into a one of a kind piece by simply drawing doodles on it – link.

Superhero Lamp

Ryan McElhinney (who has worked at such places as Disney and 20th Century Fox) took old toys, a lamp and created stunning lamps. Using a hot glue gun, he stuck together a bunch of superhero toys to the base of a lamp, and then used a high gloss paint to create the unified look. – link

Relumine: Florescent Light Strip Lamps

Because we are switching to using more energy efficient compact florescent light bulbs instead of incandescent ones, Studio mischer‘traxler wanted to go out and redesign normal lamps to use those long florescent strips. They ended up with these playful looking lamps that look like something from a Pixar movie – link.

The Picasa Photo Lamp

Marie over at Under the Sycamore has used the photo sharing website Picasa to upcycle her lamps into one of a kind light pieces. Picasa allows you to create collages with your photos and edit them into black or white if you want, which can then be printed out on vellum and hot glued onto a lamp shade – link.

Camera Film Lamp

Here is an idea: use an old IKEA lamp and glue black and white negative film onto the glass – 6 DIY Lamp Ideas.

Christmas Ornament Upcycled Lamp

Looking to recreate a designer lamp, Brooke over at All Things Thrifty used Christmas ornaments and a lamp to create this lovely piece – link.

Karen over at The Art of Doing Stuff has come up with a unique, simple and stunning DIY outdoor lighting idea. Using only opaque glass shades commonly found at secondhand stores for $1-3 (also available at hardware stores for $10-15) and old used string lights, she has made these decorative glowing orbs. There is really nothing to it: stuff the lights into the shades, plug them in and your done – all for $3. You can even use solar string lights and avoid the wiring completely. Or they would make for wonderful table lamps. We’ll be trying this out soon – maybe even applying a thin layer of green coating on the orbs to make them blend in with the plants during the day.

So far no other project comes close to the excitement of trying out this DIY idea. Each of the Superhero Lamps are one of a kind, using recycled toys. The sleek look and the amazing details of the toys makes the lamps so appealing. These truly amazing lamps were created by Ryan McElhinney an award winning product designer who has worked at Disney and 20th Century Fox.

If you’d like to make one, there are a few examples of people using glue guns to make their own versions of this superhero lamp. Evil Robot Designs also make custom toy lamps seen below.

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This is a place where I gather ideas on all things lighting (I’m a wannabe property developer). Lights & Lights also has design guide articles writen by industry experts: our most popular topics are Home, Outdoor, and Wedding Lighting Ideas.